Wednesday, February 24, 2010

We are trying to make a real effort to eat some of the things that have been lingering in our freezer. We discovered quite a few items in the bottom of our chest freezer when we ungraded to an upright freezer last week including some Asian meatballs & garlic scape pesto which led to this sandwich.In the last year, I've really discovered the yumminess that is the bánh mi. There is just something about the mix of flavors & textures that just works. For me a bánh mi has to have a protein, something pickled, something crunchy, something spicy & something creamy all on a crispy baguette.For our protein we used some leftover Asian Meatballs. When we originally made these we cooked them all & then froze half. To use them on this sandwich they just required thawing & a quick reheat in the microwave.

For something pickled & something hot we had some pickled jalapenos we canned this summer & quick carrot pickles I made in the morning.

Put the vinegar, sugar, pepper & salt in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for one minute. Stir until the sugar & salt are dissolved. Cool. Add the carrots. Cover & refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. The longer they sit they more pickled they will be.

Makes about 1/2 cup

The carrots are also the crisp in the this sandwich along with fresh cilantro.

For the creamy element, Matt took a little garlic scape pesto we had frozen & mixed it with some mayo. It also made a good dipping sauce for the few meatballs that wouldn't fit in our sandwiches.

We didn't use baguettes for these. I had tested a hamburger bun recipe for a friend this weekend & made a few hotdog bun shaped to use for this. They were a little soft for bánh mi though tasty.

Not as good as the bánh mi we get at the Vietnamese places down on Nicollet but certainly a decent home version. Do you have a favorite bánh mi combination?

Banh mi is something I've been hoping to try at a multiple places, but so far have only had at one. As a banh mi newbie, is the meat part generally warm? The one I've had so far was cold throughout, which was not what I expected.Thanks!